KIVCET smelter

ANALYSIS OF DUST FORMATION IN THE OXYGEN FLASH SMELTING OF LEAD-BEARING FEEDS IN THE KIVCET SMELTER... 

Walker, M, 1998. Kivcet smelter on-stream at Trail, Mining Magazine, 178(4) 256-263. 

Direct operating costs for a Kivcet smelter as at June 2005 are given in Table 17.6 for a plant of 100 000 t/a of lead annual capacity. The subdivision of plant sections corresponds with capital cost items given in Table 17.5. 

Smelting Kaldo Flash Smelter I Updraught Sinter Machine / Updraught Sinter Machine/ Kivcet Furnace ... 

Source of Gas Kaldo Cu-Smelter Raw Gas from Sinter Machine i Sinter Machine Kivcet Furnace... 

To Secondary Copper-Smelter NAi Recvded to Kivcet Plant... 

The smelter treats all of the zinc plant residues, which constitute approximately 45-50% of the charge. The percentage of zinc plant residues is a function of the smelter elemental limits and maintains a specific heat balance in the KIVCET furnace. Residues fiom the oxide leach plant and sulphide leach plant are blended and pumped to the feed plant at a specific gravity of 1.75. The residues are filtered through two Ingersoll-Rand Lasta plate filter presses. The total residue filtering capacity is 825 dry t/d, with the filter cake containing 20-22% moisture. 

D.W. Ashman, Pilot Plant and Commercial Scale Test Work on the KIVCET Process for Trail s New Lead Smelter , Zinc and Lead Processing. J.E. Dutrizac, G.L. Bolton and P. Hancock, Eds., The Metallurgical Society of CIM, Montreal, Quebec, 1998, 783-794. 

A.P. Sychev, A.S. Kulenov, Yu.I. Sannikov, L.V. Slobodkin, V.A. Lysenko and Yu.A. Grinin, An Important Step of the Kivcet-CS Process Introduction is Made at the Ust-Kamenogorsk Lead and Zinc Smelter , Non-ferrous Metals fUSSRL No.l, 1988,14-19. 

There were several problems with the oxide electrolyte purification circuit. The arsenic concentration in the zinc fiime fi-om the smelter had increased since the start-up of KIVCET, resulting in an increased tendency for arsenic breakthrough to the oxide electrolyte. This, in turn, had led to an increased potential for arsine generation during zinc dust purification as well as in the storage tank for purification residues in the cadmium plant. In addition, the oxide purification equipment was in very poor working condition. 

Since the lead smelter owned by OAO Kazzinc has ten years of experience in smelting lead-zinc sulphide concentrates by the Kivcet technology, a method of comparing physical and chemical properties of the bulk concentrate to the characteristics of typical lead-zinc raw materials has been developed. This method was used to decide on the feed composition and process operating conditions. Two major features of the bulk concentrate that affect the results of the smelting in the Kivcet unit were examined the calorific value and the desulphurization rate. 

The Kivcet process is robust and highly flexible in the range of possible feed materials, from high-grade concentrates through to secondary leach residues. It produces a low volume of smelter gas rich in SO2 and suitable for sulfuric acid production. It is also well contained with minimal opportunity for environmental emissions, particularly in comparison with sinter plant-blast furnace technology. 

With direct smelting processes such as Kivcet, matte can be tapped directly from the furnace at the appropriate level, separate from bullion and slag. Where matte is separately produced from the blast furnace it is usual to separate slag first and then separate matte from bulUon in a separate forehearih or settling pot where it can rise to the surface and fieeze. Speiss can also form as a separate phase at this stage, as a frozen layer from cooled buUion. Speiss is usually a waste product, but depending on the smelter feed composition can be a point of concentration of nickel. 

Normally thallium, like mercury, is effectively removed by volatihsation in the sintering process. For direct smelting processes there may not be sufficient volatihsation with direct capture into the lead bulhon, and a direct method of separation may be required, as is the case at the Trail smelter with the introduction of the Kivcet process. In this case thallium is removed by the addition of zinc chloride to molten buUion, displacing thalhum as a thalhum chloride dross, and leaving zinc in the bullion for later removal. 

Lead smelter capital costs - Kivcet process (cost basis - June 2005). 

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